It’s no secret that positive affirmations work. You’ve probably heard someone recommend them before to help boost your mood, motivate you, or to generally improve your outlook on life.

A positive affirmation is a self-truth. It’s a statement that we know or desire to be true, which we affirm and bring into being with our words. Naturally, it should also be optimistic to help combat the negativity and unhelpful thoughts we have. I’ve mentioned in previous posts how much our thoughts and emotions affect our reality—especially in THIS post—and one of the best ways to take control of that is to have daily affirmations that align with the life you want to lead and the person you want to be.

How do they work?

There is a strange power to words. A compliment can lift your spirit (“You look nice today!” ) while an insult can break your…

My day was completely ruined yesterday when I stumbled upon a fun fact that absolutely obliterated my mind. I saw this tweet yesterday that said that not everyone has an internal monologue in their head. All my life, I could hear my voice in my head and speak in full sentences as if I was talking out loud. I thought everyone experienced this, so I did not believe that it could be true at that time.

Literally the first person I asked was a classmate of mine who said that she can not “hear” her voice in her mind. I asked her if she could have a conversation with herself in her head and she looked at me funny like I was the weird one in this situation. So I began to become more intrigued. Most people I asked said that they have this internal monologue that is running…

Readers (and friends and acquaintances and strangers you meet during tennis matches) often have ‘funny’ ideas about what it’s like to be a fiction writer. These ideas are mostly so far off base it isn’t even funny (No, actually, I don’t spend the entire day staring at my screen trying to think up things to do!). Take researching a novel as an example. Most readers understand that writing historical fiction involves hours and hours of researching. But what about chick lit or other guilty pleasure type novels? Surely, no research or perhaps only a bit of research is required to write one of those? Um, no. I think most readers would be shocked by the amount of research writers put into their writing. (Of course, there are always exceptions. I, for one, almost never read a novel with a hero or heroine who is a lawyer as most writers have…

While researching Silk and the Sword: the Women of the Norman Conquest I came across some incredibly interesting characters. One of the most misunderstood women of the 11th century has to be Lady Godiva. Although she would have been known as Godgifu in her lifetime, we shall call her Godiva, the name we have all grown up with, and to distinguish her from several notable ladies of a similar name in this period. Known for her legendary naked ride through Coventry in order to ease the tax burdens of its citizens, finding the true story of Lady Godiva was a fascinating experience. She was the grandmother of three of the leading English characters of the Norman Conquest; Harold II’s queen, Ealdgyth and the earls of Mercia and Northumberland, Edwin and Morcar.

The origins of Lady Godiva herself, are shrouded in mystery and the distance of time. We know nothing of…